Writing Assessment Student’s Guide

SUMMIT 1 WRITING ASSESSMENT 7 Seems good… I’ll

buy it!
Students…

 Write a structured report analyzing advantages and disadvantages of a

situation.
 Give a structured written explanation of a problem.
 Express coherent ideas on topics of interest related to advertising.

1. Think about:

1. Have you ever bought a product advertised by a

celebrity?

2. Are you familiar with the term “planned

obsolescence”? Do you believe it is true?

3. Have you ever purchased a product on

“Teleshopping”? Did it work?

Planned obsolescence: Business strategy in which

the obsolescence of a product is planned and built
into it from its conception. This is done so that in
future the consumer feels a need to purchase new
products and services.

Taken from: https://www.economist.com/news/2009/03/23/planned-

obsolescence

2. Words matter!

2. Words matter!

To do well in this lesson, it is necessary to learn a number of words. Please complete

the following exercise. At the end, you will have increased your vocabulary.

2.1. Circle the concept that best describes the word or expression in bold, depending
on the context.

a. I went a little overboard this time, but the discounts were so good it was too hard to
resist.

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Writing Assessment Student’s Guide

- He bought more products than he needed. – He now owes a lot of money.

b. I just got paid… let’s splurge for a while… I’ll pay for all you eat and drink tonight.

-To invite people to have dinner. –To send a great amount of money in not urgent
things.

c. That lipstick looks terrific on you! Love the color! I’ll buy one too!

- Horrible - Beautiful

d. I got this dietary supplement on teleshopping last week. They said it doesn’t have any
side effects, but I’ve been feeling a little sick. I will ask for my money back.

- Has additional effects that can be negative. - Has more advantages than
disadvantages.

2.2. Match the word or expression on the left with the corresponding meaning on the
right. In this way you will know how to use it in specific contexts.

Word Category
1. Rip off (___) a. To look for the best discounts.
2. Fraud (___) b. To advertise a product evidently.
3. Bargain hunting (___) c. Pay a lot of money for something that does not
work.
4. Window shopping (___) d. Illegal operation that can involve money.
5. Product placement (___) e. To walk around seeing products but no buying
them.

3. Read a bit!

Read the following text about Samuel’s experience with “Teleshopping”.

WHAT A RIP OFF!

I’ve always felt ashamed about being bald. Unlike people my age, having no hair makes me
feel and look like 20 years older than I really am. I was watching T.V. one night, and I saw
Bruce Willis. I really enjoy his movies so I kept watching. However, it was not a movie: it was
him on a teleshopping TV commercial talking about baldness. Around him, there were a lot
of little tubes and brushes with the name “Hairback” on them. “What great product
placement”, I thought. Bruce was brushing his head and showing how thanks to this

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Writing Assessment Student’s Guide

miraculous thing, he had started to grow hair again. His new hair looked terrific! Like in his
old days, so I said “ok, if it works for Bruce Willis, it will work for me too.” So, even if
teleshopping was something I was not used to, I decided to buy it; what I didn’t know were
all the problems it would bring and how it could change my mind about buying products
would change.

I decided to go overboard and buy

enough product to have awesome hair, so
I bought 150 cream tubes and 15 brushes.
The price was so good I felt I had won a
bargain hunting competition. I started to
use it and for one week I saw some few
hairs growing. I was excited about this.
However, the following week, things
changed. My head started to itch, it was
really hot and it started to become purple!!
Nobody had told me the cream had side
effects. I waited for some days, but it got
worse. I was so disappointed and sad. I
really hate not being told the truth. What a
rip off! I splurged all my money buying
this useless thing. I went to the police
because I felt I had fallen into a fraud, but
the police officer told me there was
nothing illegal, no one forced me to buy it.
Then, I put all tubes and brushes in the
trash.
At the end I wrote a letter complaining about the product, and some days after I received an
envelope with an apology letter. The company stated they have a good reputation to their
customers and as I was an upset customer, they invited me to be part of their new campaign
which consisted on real customers describing their stories and trying the new “Hairback 2.0”.

As soon as I received that letter, I refused the offer. Now, every time I want to buy something,
I prefer going window shopping first and see products for myself to make more informed
decisions. Oh… I’m still bald and I hate Bruce Willis movies too!

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Writing Assessment Student’s Guide

4. Grammar and composition

In this session you find grammar elements and composition strategies that help you
with your writing production. Read the explanation; this is important for the next
step!

Using passive forms of gerunds and infinitives

When we are writing formal texts, it is important to remember that when we want to
focus actions instead of who perform that action, we must use the passive form, and in
this case, the passive form of gerunds. Check this out:

1. I really like being told the truth.

Now check this:

2. I really appreciate when people tell me the truth.

As you can see, the first form makes emphasis on the action being told, rather than the
subject. On the other hand, in the second sentence, the emphasis is made on “who”:
people.

This is how it would work in a negative form:

3. I really hate not being told the truth.

If you keep this in mind, you written texts will be awesome!

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Writing Assessment Student’s Guide

4.1 Now think of five adjectives that would describe Samuel’s situation described in
section 3. Think of five mistakes that, from your perspective, Samuel made when he
decided to buy “Hairback”. Then write them in the blanks below. Follow the example:

Samuel was really impulsive. You should ask for the effects before buying a product.

a. ___________________________________________________________________________________________.

b.___________________________________________________________________________________________.

c. ___________________________________________________________________________________________.

d. ___________________________________________________________________________________________.

e. ___________________________________________________________________________________________.

Writing warnings
There are effective ways to make warnings and recommendations on any topic when
we are building a written text. Here you have some examples on how to use them
in each context:

ABOUT ADVERTISING…

 We must avoid feeling forced to buy a product just because a celebrity

uses it.
 If you are told some product is miraculous, please double check.
 Whenever you buy a product, you must be informed about its side effects.
 The fact that a famous person has it, doesn’t mean it is good.

4.2 Bearing in mind the information requested in 4.1 determine the aspects people
must take into account when buying products advertised through mass media.

________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Writing Assessment Student’s Guide

________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________.

Stating a problem
A problem statement describes the issue and provides a method so solve it. In
academic writing, maybe for research purposes, this problem statement states the
method that will be used to solve the question at hand. When writing your problem
statement, think about the problem and your proposed solution, and try to back it up
with facts or the additional information it requires.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

Think about the following: What is the problem that the text will address?

It is recommended even to jumping right to the problem itself, or provide

background context first so that problem (and its solution) are easier to understand.

So, even if teleshopping was something I was

not used to, I decided to buy it; what I didn’t know
were not all the problems it would bring and how it
could change my mind about buying products
would change.

Important: In academic writing, the problem statement should lead to further research.

What is the format for writing a statement of the problem?

When explaining the problem and its consequences, take into account the following structure:

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Writing Assessment Student’s Guide

PART 1: Describes the desired situations; how things should be.

I’ve always felt ashamed about being bald… I said “ok, if it works for Bruce Willis,
it will work for me too.”

PART 2: Explains how the situation falls short from the “ideal”.

However, the following week, things changed. …Nobody had told me the cream
had side effects. …What a rip off! I splurged all my money buying this useless
thing.

PART 3: Explains the consequences and the actions that were taken to improve
the situation.

I went to the police because I felt I had fallen into a fraud. At the end I wrote a
letter complaining about the product.
4.3. Think about a similar problem you had with a product you bought. State the
problem, describe the desired situation, how the desired situation became a problem
and the actions that were taken.

PROBLEM: ___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

DESIRED ___________________________________________________________________
SITUATION:
___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________.

CHANGE OF THE ____________________________________________________________________

SITUATION:
___________________________________________________________________

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Writing Assessment Student’s Guide

___________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________.

TAKEN ACTIONS: 1.__________________________________________________________________.

2.__________________________________________________________________.

3. _________________________________________________________________.

Now you are ready for your writing test. Let’s write something!

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